The strength of the word

Fr. Livio Tonello, director

Mankind has always pursued communication with his fellows using signs, sounds and words. Through oral and written communication we can express emotions and different feelings. A weeping child too expresses his feelings and his tears arouse emotional reactions. The great gift of the word enriched by the language of signs enables us to create relationships, to communicate different messages and to express opinions and ideas. These considerations underline the meaning of the liturgical celebration of St. Anthony on 13 June. In the Treasury Chapel of the Basilica a modern reliquary houses the still intact vocal apparatus of the Saint that is the symbol of the spiritual strength of his messages inspired by the Gospel inviting to the conversion to Christian life as we can read in his Sermons. Let’s think of his sermon to the fish in Rimini, to the Sermon to the faithful from the walnut tree in Camposampiero, to his commitment against the usurers in Padua, to his meeting with the tyrant Ezzelino and his preaching for simple people. His words illuminated by the light of the Gospel and by his knowledge of the every day life of his contemporaries are still actual today. But in the age…